'73 Chieftain II Custom interior renovation

[Wantawinnie]

Brightens up the room quite a bit actually.

[Wantawinnie]

Again, sorry about the blurry pics.

[Wantawinnie]

This is the last one for now. I like how the paneling makes the cabinets stand out instead of blending in with a wall of matching grain. It seems to modernize it yet keep the original feel at the same time.

[Stripe]

I likey!

[Elandan2]

Yes!! Excellent!

[moonlitcoyote]

very nice and a major improvement in the bathroom, I cant believe it was all the same color. Yuck!

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Looking good!

Kev

[Wantawinnie]

It's been awhile but I'm still around. 

After getting the rear brakes and axles all gone through it was time to take the journey for the flooring updates. We decided on carpeting and a heavy pad for the front of the rig for sound deadening and some comfort. We found a remnant the was called Indian Summer and felt it looked nice and would hide dirt and stains that will eventually happen. We have a Chieftain but Indian name was close enough for us.    Dynomat was installed on the engine cover and the front section under the seats as well to further help with noise and heat.

[Wantawinnie]

In the kitchen and bath area we went with vinyl plank in a wood pattern.





We followed up with matching carpet in the rear bedroom.

[Wantawinnie]

Now that the flooring is done I can finish the trim work around the doors and the baseboards. Then on to window coverings and a few other finishing touches. 

[xerofall]

The flooring and carpet look so nice! You're doing an excellent job!

[pvoth1111]

Very nice

[LJ-TJ]

Amazing, absolutely amazing. What an inspiration to others. I love the colors. It makes the rig look rich. At this rate she's going to be one classy looking rig when your done. Well done Mate.    

[Wantawinnie]

Figured an update was well overdue.

I've made some good progress on the rig. The entire water system plumbing has been replaced with PEX pipe on both the hot and cold sides. I put in a main shut off valve coming in and a diverter valve to fill the fresh water tank from inside the rig. After that there are valves to shut off the kitchen, shower, hot water heater, and outside shower hose. Shut off valves were also installed to the other side of the rig to the toilet and bathroom sink. If you noticed I mentioned an outside shower hose, yep added that.

There was an old furnace under the kitchen cabinets that was removed leaving the intake/exhaust port unused on the outside.



Seemed like a convenient spot to add something and the plumbing was right there.



Made the cutout



Voila, outside faucet for cleaning off our dirty whatever.

[Wantawinnie]

After installing the outside shower I got the drain for the freshwater tank made out of 1/2" CPVC so it can be drained without crawling under the rig. The toilet is installed and working. A new inside shower faucet was installed, all the kitchen cabinet drawer slides were replaced, and the built in vacuum cleaner was reinstalled. The on demand water pump is wired up and plumbed in to the freshwater system. I was able to use the original water pump switch and control panel by doing a little wiring modifying. Pump kicks in nice and shuts off at the proper pressure. The control panel still powers up for the tanks but there are no sensors on the stainless black and grey water tanks right now.

Next up was the LP system and appliances. These were bought in like new but used condition off craigslist so all bets were off on them working. I was able to connect the new fridge with a simple flare union, the stove needed a different size screw in flare fitting installed so that was easy, the hot water heater line needed to be cut and a new female flare fitting installed to hook up. After running some 12V wires to the fridge it lit up and runs off propane or AC power (yeah!), the stove burners bled out the air in the line and then lit up, the oven pilot lit up and the burner then fired up great, (2 for 2, yeah!) Next up was the automatic pilot 10 gallon water heater. I went to a local RV center and bought a remote water heater switch with warning light, got a wiring diagram off the net, and wired it up. Flipped the switch and the power came on, heard a little ticking from the pilot and it fired up. (woohoo! 3 for 3) Last up was the furnace, a newer one that came with the rig when I bought it. Didn't do anything but turn up the thermostat and it kicked in and started blowing heat. Nice! 4 for 4 and no leaks. Good job done.

[M & J]

 

[TerryH]

Adding a shut off valve to each component utilizing incoming water is a great idea, and one that you may come to appreciate down the "road". I did the same and later had a kitchen sink connection problem. I was able to shut that line off while maintaining water to everything else - bathroom sink, toilet, water heater and shower. Far more convenient than shutting down the entire water system to repair.
A fair amount of work in itself, but highly recommended if you are doing plumbing repair.
As to tank level sensors, I think most will advise you do not rely on them alone. Experience works well. Some info on them is here:
http://www.andybaird.com/Eureka/pages/gauges.htm
Terry

[Wantawinnie]

The renovation is nearly complete, if they are ever truly complete that is.

Here are some pictures of the completed project.

I installed a fold out couch with queen air mattress and made a custom electric fireplace.

[Wantawinnie]

Some pics of the kitchen area, found an original blender for the one that was missing to go with the built in power unit. My Winnebago key holder has been quite useful also.

[Wantawinnie]

19 inch flat screen installed and hooked to a new Winegard booster antennae. Going to run a 110 outlet up into the cabinet so the cord doesn't hang down like it does now.

New larger fridge replaced the old original.

[Wantawinnie]

Installed a medicine cabinet in the bathroom.

[Wantawinnie]

Rear U shaped dinette in place. Made a storage area for the table and legs for when it's not in use. Relocated the mirror to the other side so my wife can sit and do makeup, etc.

[CapnDirk]

WOW!!!  You should quite your day job!     Nice work.

[Wantawinnie]

Thanks! I see all my older pictures here were Photobucket linked as well. Great!! Lol

[CapnDirk]

Another company I hope to see fall off the face of the earth.